Page 27 of Crownless King

He knew he’d never met anyone like her before, and he probably never would for as long as he lived. Yet it’d never crossed his mind to search his memories for the exact wording of that damn promise he’d given decades ago.

“That’s right, my dear Sparrow. You’re not a fae.”

He cupped the side of her face, then slid his hand down her neck in a caress. He stroked her breast, enjoying the way her curves filled and overflowed his hand. Her skin was soft, her body subtle, but neither felt nor looked quite the same as those of his kind.

“You’re so delightfully human, my little bird.”

He caressed the swell of her stomach, savoring the delicate softness of her. Every touch made his unquenchable desire for her surge higher. With his arm around her waist, he brought her closer, fitting her between his open knees. His cock jerked, touching her belly as she was kneeling in front of him.

He pressed her against him, her body so willing and pliable in his hands. Yet he sensed some resistance in the way she propped her hands on his shoulders when he kissed her breast.

She took his head in her hands, forcing him to face her. He groaned inwardly, interrupting his kisses.

“How long does it take to become the cursed after a promise is broken?” she asked, her beautiful mind working on things he couldn’t focus on with her naked body so close to his.

“Instantly.” He reached for her lips with his mouth but managed to steal just a tiny peck before she pulled away.

“So, the fact that you’re… well, still very muchyoumust mean that your promise has not been broken.”

“Right.” He lifted her into his lap, making her straddle his thighs.

His cock bobbed at her entrance, eager to dive in.

“Does it have something to do with me being a human, too?” she chirped another question, so relentlessly curious. Only his mind remained clouded with lust, thick and steamy.

“Probably…” he murmured.

He lifted one breast in his hand, kissing the inside of it before moving to her other breast, both equally fascinating and utterly fantastic. All he could think about was getting inside her again. He wished to spend the rest of the night right there, inside her warm, slick softness.

She scrunched her nose in a most adorable way. “For someone who has been practically celibate for decades, you’re way too horny all of a sudden.”

He lifted his head with a grin, feeling drunk on her scent and the sensation of her body in his hands.

“You have no idea, sweetheart, no idea how hard it was to stay celibate since you came along.”

She tilted her head, gazing at him with those eyes that held all the colors of a forest. “Had it been easier before I came along?”

The lustful fog cleared from his mind when he thought back to all those years he’d spent bound by the promises he’d given. The burden of this particular one weighed down on him, robbing him of joy like the dark shadows of Under. No matter how careful he was, he could never fully enjoy making love to a woman.

“I managed,” he said briefly, unwilling to place any of his burden on her delicate shoulders.

A wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows. “Why did you do it to yourself? Why did you make all those promises?”

His cock throbbed impatiently, but he ignored it for the time being, thinking back to that day when the royal couple appeared here in Vensari. They had come under the pretense of personally congratulating him on his latest victory. But he knew they wanted to secure their arrangement with him in a much firmer way. The real problem was, as it turned out, that back then, he wished for that too.

Sparrow misunderstood the pause.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” she said. “But will you let me read the book? Will it be in there?”

He stretched his neck, running a hand through his hair. He had given the promise here, in Vensari, so it should be in the book since it recorded every event of any significance to his family.

“Let’s read it,” he agreed. “It’ll be good for me to refresh my memory.”

She made a move to get off his lap, but he hooked his arm around her middle, keeping her in place. He’d agreed to read the book, but not at the cost of parting with her now. He’d come here to spend the night, driven insane by the need for her body. And he wasn’t nearly done with her yet.

Instead, he dragged their chair closer to the table with the book and shifted Sparrow to sit sideways on his lap, her hip pressing against his hard, long-suffering cock.

Sparrow lifted the front cover of the book.

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